


The Sherlock Holmes Picnic 2012 Treasure Hunt

by flawedamythyst



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-16
Updated: 2012-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-10 02:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the treasure hunt that 60-70 fangirls did around Regent's Park on Saturday. It has a plot, so I thought I'd upload it here as a solve-your-own-case fic.</p>
<p>After John goes missing, Sherlock has to follow the clues to find him. Contains references to slash, but no actual slash.</p>
<p>(Warning: First chapter is the map for it, which is a reasonably large image file.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Map

Every location is on this map. You'll probably want to keep it open while you work through the hunt.


	2. Location One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first clue.

You start out at the bandstand within Regent's Park. The first solution is an object or thing that is plentiful within the park.

CLUE 1:

At 10.22 on a sunny Saturday morning, John left 221B Baker Street on foot, carrying a copy of The Hobbit and the stale end of a loaf of bread. As he was leaving, he said to Sherlock, “Just popping out for a bit, to enjoy the sun. I'll be back in time for lunch – don't think for a minute you're getting out of eating some today.”

Sherlock responded with little more than a grunt. There had been no interesting cases in weeks, and his ability to care about such things as sunny mornings, lunch, or social interaction had completely disintegrated.

4 hours and 13 minutes later, he became aware that it was now long past what anyone would consider lunchtime, and John still wasn't back. Sherlock texted him, inquiring after his whereabouts and then, when there was no response, attempted a phone call. John's phone was turned off. Odd.

A moment of thought revealed the following data:

There was a 14% chance John had got chatting to some young woman and decided to take her off to a café rather than come back to a sulking Sherlock. There was a 3% chance Harry had been taken ill, or had some other emergency that John had been called away to deal with. There was a 6% chance that Mycroft had decided to abduct John – rather lower than usual, as he had already indulged in his monthly kidnapping last week. That left a 77% chance that something unpleasant had happened to John.

Sherlock got up off the sofa, put some clothes on that he hadn't been living in for 37 hours, and set off to find his flatmate. It was obvious what he had been heading to do, after all, and therefore what Sherlock should be looking for.


	3. Location Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second clue.

CLUE 2:

When Sherlock arrived at John's favourite bench for reading and feeding the ducks from, it was deserted, but there was a scattering of crumbs around it. A quick investigation revealed that they came from the kitchen of Baker Street – the smell of sulphur from the explosion 3 days ago was quite distinctive. It was a wonder John had been able to persuade the ducks to eat it.

Near-by was a young mother with two small children. Sherlock interrogated her.

“Oh, there was a man sitting there, yes,” she said. “A group of women came up to him and he went off with them, about two hours ago.”

“One of them gave me this,” said one of her children, waving a flag excitedly.

 

[](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v95/flawedamythyst/Hunt/?action=view&current=Item1withClue2.jpg)


	4. Location Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third clue.

CLUE 3:

There was nothing of interest to be seen at the Latvian Embassy. Sherlock was considering his next move when a woman bumped into him in an obviously purposeful manner, slipping something in his pocket as she did so, then disappeared inside the Embassy.

Sherlock put his hand into his pocket, and discovered two pieces of paper. One was clearly irrelevant for the moment, so he focussed on the other.

Item One: [](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v95/flawedamythyst/Hunt/?action=view&current=Item2withClue3.jpg)

 

Item Two:   
219; 11; 5  
72; 14; 9  
14; 5; 4


	5. Location Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth clue.

CLUE 4:

The woman arrived at Regent's Park tube station 5 minutes after Sherlock, and he took the chance to take a good look at her as she approached. She was wearing a long, black coat, a beige Aran jumper and a badge saying #Ibelieve. Sherlock wasn't entirely sure how she hadn't collapsed from heat exhaustion.

“I can't talk long,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “If they find out I'm here, they'll post about me on the hate meme.”

“And why should I trust you?” asked Sherlock, taking in the obvious signs that she was underemployed, overeducated, and spent far too much time on the internet.

“Because if you don't, you'll never get John back,” she said. 

Sherlock clenched his jaw and wiped all hint of emotion of his face, in case she could tell that he was a little bit fond of John, on occasion, when he wasn't being too annoying, but nothing more than that, nothing like _caring_ , oh no. He didn't do that.

“Where is he?” he asked in a desperate voice.

“He's been kidnapped by the Campaign For Slash In Canon,” said the woman. “CAMSIC. They want him to write slash into his blog entries.”

Sherlock frowned. “I don't-”

“Oh, just Google it later,” said the woman. “I don't have time to explain internet fandom to you right now.” She glanced over her shoulder again, then drew the collar of her coat up. Sherlock wondered whether she was attempting to look cool, in which case the jumper had been a mistake, or appear inconspicuous, in which case the entire outfit had been a mistake. “I came to give you this,” she said, handing Sherlock a book, “and some advice. You may need to infiltrate CAMSIC later – you should collect some props.”

With that cryptic comment, she turned and disappeared.

 

(At this point, the teams were handed a copy of The Hobbit. Having looked up the book code from the previous clue, they arrived at these words: Royal, Teaching, Music.

They also had the opportunity to gain bonus points by collecting fandom-related items.)


	6. Location Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fifth clue.

CLUE 5:

While he was hunting around for any clues outside the Royal Academy Of Music, Sherlock's phone started to ring. He pulled it out immediately in case it was John, and was extremely disappointed to see the familiar 'Number Withheld' that meant Mycroft. He contemplated ignoring it, then reluctantly picked up. He might know something about John's whereabouts, after all.

“Sherlock,” said Mycroft without waiting for a greeting. “I am extremely busy today, and about to get on a plane, but I thought you might like to know that your blogger has been spotted in-”

Inside the building behind Sherlock, an orchestra started up a loud and triumphant march, completely drowning out Mycroft's next words.

“-I just hope that you'll manage to wear more than a sheet on this visit to one of her residences,” finished Mycroft, then promptly hung up before Sherlock could ask him to repeat the key part of the sentence.

Scowling with annoyance, Sherlock tried to call him back, but Mycroft had already turned his phone off, no doubt for the flight he had mentioned.


	7. Location Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sixth clue.

CLUE 6: 

The Windsor Castle was empty of anything more than a handful of tourists, but when Sherlock interrogated the barman, he said that a particularly loud group of women, with one put-upon-looking man, had left about twenty minutes ago.

Sherlock hunted all around the table they had been sitting at, and found a battered sheet of paper tucked underneath it that made his blood chill. Clearly, whatever persuasion or torture the fangirls were using on John was starting to work, with horrific results. He had to find him, and soon, or it would be too late and John's mind would be forever tainted with this rubbish.

Item five:

“Help me come,” Sherlock pants, then mews, “Need to come,” he gasps, “Immediately.”   
God, no, I can't write this. It's just wrong!


	8. Location Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The seventh clue.

CLUE 7: 

Sherlock arrived at Sherlock Mews too late. It was clear that the fangirls and John were long gone and he cursed himself for not having been quicker. The narrow back alley showed clear signs of having been inhabited by a group of people for quite some time. There was a crumpled piece of paper that he picked up and smoothed out, then dropped in horror. No one should have to see a representation of themselves getting up to that kind of thing, even if it was only as a cartoon.

As he was contemplating whether examining the other scattered pieces of paper for clues would be worth the potential mind-scarring, his phone started ringing again. This time he answered immediately.

 

BONUS ITEM: Bonus points available if you produce a possibility for the cartoon Sherlock looked at.

Item 6:

Transcript of call made 15/07/12 15:36 from 07785142338 (John Watson) to 07739625987 (Sherlock Holmes).

Unidentified Female 1: Maybe he just needs inspiration? We could take him somewhere where he's bound to get a plot!bunny.  
Unidentified Female 2: Like a sex shop?  
Unidentified Female 3: Uh, that might be going a bit far.  
Unidentified Female 1: I like sporting AUs. I bet he would too, if he just gave them a chance. Where is there near here? Oh! We could take him to-  
Unidentified Female 2: Wait, what's he doing with his phone?  
*sounds of a scuffle*  
*phone call disconnects*


	9. Location Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The eighth clue.

CLUE 8:

By the time Sherlock made it to the Regent's Park tennis courts, he was becoming rather irritated. It felt as if he'd been criss-crossing the same tiny part of London all afternoon, and yet was getting no closer to John as he did so. When he found nothing there but people playing some rather amateur tennis, he let out a groan of frustration and clutched at his hair. What next?

He spun in a circle, then stopped dead as he spotted a familiar pattern of damage in the bushes by the side of the courts. There had been a struggle there, one person trying to get away from a group. Sherlock crouched to investigate further, and found a scrap of paper in a familiar hand.

Item 7: (Napoleons - SignOf) x (CarlPowersDeath - Always) + [(Gables + Garridebs) x Pips] + PatchProblem = ?


	10. Location Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final part.

FINAL PART: 

When Sherlock rushed into the flat, John was already there, collapsed on the sofa with his arm over his eyes.

“Are you hurt? John, are you hurt?!” asked Sherlock.

John let out a dispirited noise. “Only mental scarring,” he said. “But some of it's pretty bad.”

Sherlock sank into his chair. “How did you escape?” he asked.

“Never ask,” said John. “For the love of God, please never ask me that. In fact, it would be best if we never spoke of this again. Ever.”

Sherlock burnt with curiosity for a moment, then abruptly remembered the porn he'd found at Windsor Castle, and found himself suddenly not wanting to know. “I can do that,” he said.

“Actually, I'm quite tempted just to get blindingly drunk,” added John.

Sherlock nodded. It had been that kind of day. “I'll get the whisky,” he said.

 

THE END


End file.
